368 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



intense than that of the Cumberland, 

 and the Kentucky River bee-keepers lose 

 more colonies in Winter than their 

 Cumberland neighbors. The success or 

 failure with bees in both valleys is 

 regarded as a pure matter of luck. If 

 the Kentucky River men have good luck, 

 their loss in Winter will not exceed 10 

 per cent., but if their luck has been 

 bad, their loss may be from 50 to 75 

 per cent. 



In the Cumberland Valley, where ice is 

 seldom seen, and the thermometer rarely 

 falls below 30- above zero, the bee-keep- 

 er's luck in wintering is much better, 

 the loss seldom exceeding 1 per cent. 

 But the Winter of 1886 was an excep- 

 tionally severe one in the Cumberland 

 Valley, and on the night of Jan. 23 the 

 thermometer fell to 16^ below zero, and 

 continued at that point for throe con- 

 secutive days. Every Cumberland Valley 

 bee-keeper had bad luck that year, and 

 the loss was between 75 and 80 per 

 cent. But in the Spring, when the 

 dead bees were being cleared out, and 

 the combs melted into wax, I noticed 

 this remarkable fact : Those colonies 

 which had not been robbed at all, or 

 only In the early Summer, were all dead. 

 They had not starved, as all had a 

 liberal supply of sealed honey still left. 

 But those colonies which had been 

 robbed late in the Fall invariably came 

 through all right, and, strange as it may 

 seem, they were the only colonies which 

 survived the Winter. Ther*^ was no 

 exception to this rule in both the Ken- 

 tucky and Cumberland Valleys. 



I can account for this remarkable fact 

 in this manner alone : Wax is a non- 

 conductor of heat, and in the unrobbed 

 hives the sheets of comb separated the 

 bees into thin layers, and spread them 

 over a large surface. They could not 

 mass together in sufficient numbers to 

 keep the temperature above the freezing 

 point (32^ above), and were therefore 

 all frozen. But where the hives had 

 been robbed in the Fall, the bees had 

 been unable to replace the loss. Hence, 

 there were no sheets of comb in the top 

 of these hives. The space robbed of its 

 comb and honey formed a clustering 

 chamber, where the bees could mass 

 together, without being separated by 

 sheets of comb, and thus keep the tem- 

 perature above the freezing point, and 

 survive the period of cold. 



If then, the lower ])ortion of the hive, 

 or brood-nest, is protected with double 

 walls, and the intervening space lilled 

 with chaff or dry sawdust, and a cluster- 

 ing chamber above the tops of the 

 frames provided in the super, or upper 



portion of the hive, where the bees can 

 mass together without being separated 

 by the sheets of comb ; and the space 

 around and above such clustering cham- 

 ber filled with closely packed hay or 

 straw, and sufficient upward ventilation 

 through the top of the clustering cham- 

 ber and top of hive given to carry ofif 

 the moisture of the bees' breath, without 

 allowing too great a rush of cold air 

 through the cluster of bees to chill them, 

 I am confident that bees may be success- 

 fully wintered on the summer stands 

 much better than by placing them in the 

 cellar. 



The necessary ventilation can be given' 

 by three holes, each one inch in diam- 

 eter, covered with wire-gauze along the 

 top of the clustering chamber, and each 

 half an inch in diameter, with wire- 

 gauze over the inside, such holes to be 

 bored in the front and rear of the cap, 

 and close to the . roof-board, and by 

 allowing !}{ inches of open space in the 

 lower entrance. The super and cap, 

 tightly packed with hay or straw, will 

 prevent any rush of cold air through the 

 cluster, but would allow sufficient to 

 carry off the moisture of the bees' 

 breath. In very severe weather, when 

 the thermometer falls below zero, these 

 half-inch holes may be partially closed 

 with plugs from the outside of the hive, 

 such plugs to have an eighth of an inch 

 hole in the center. 



Pineville, Ky. 



Colorado as a Location for Bees, 



D. R. EMEKY. 



The best native honey-plants and 

 flowers of California are being destroyed 

 by plowing and too much irrigation. 

 The cultivated flowers and many fruit- 

 blossoms do not seem to have much if 

 any honey in them. Along the larger 

 streams it is rather foggy ; and in other 

 places, the ocean breezes are rather 

 chilly for comfort. 



In Colorado, the pure, light air, and ' 

 much sunshine seems to give a spice and 

 flavor to fruit and flowers, and exhilirat- 

 ing life to man. Here the more alfalfa 

 and fruit are planted, the better will be 

 the profit received. 



Now, then, lovers of Colorado and 

 bees, what is our duty ? It is to let the 

 world know of this God-favored land, 

 and how to most simply and practically 

 make a good honest living for a family, 

 on a small amount of land. One self- 

 supporting family on a town lot, or a few 



